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{
    "id": 1091527,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1091527/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 228,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Wajir South, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Mohamed Mohamud",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13506,
        "legal_name": "Mohamud Sheikh Mohammed",
        "slug": "mohamud-sheikh-mohammed"
    },
    "content": "If I can give a very simple example: around 690 A.D, Said Abu Bakr, the first Caliph of Islam, contributed a Waqf of wells, so that the young Muslim society at the time could benefit. Saudi Arabia was in the desert; a place where water was scarce. Waqf was contributed at around that time. It eventually evolved. It continued. It has contributed to the values that society can share, namely, the haves and the have-nots. Other religions have been doing the same, but in their own ways. Alms are paid in form of sadaka by every other religion. There are two types of contributors to Waqf: one is the obligatory alms called the zakat that I am supposed to pay from my wealth. It is 2.5 per cent annually. That is essential wealth for the poor, the marginalised and societies that lack the capacity to fend for themselves. It was more of a contribution towards their support. It guarantees that everyone with wealth or some sort of income that can reach a particular threshold contributes 2.5 per cent of their wealth every year to the poor. Therefore, it was about 'sharing is caring'. It was about caring for those that were under- privileged. There was also another contributor to waqf, namely, sadaqah . Sadaqah is payable every minute of your time. Now that M-Pesa is there, I can pay sadaqah every minute. I can send it to anybody in any corner of this country. That is an important contributor to the Waq f . Waqf is more of a societal kind of venture that they contribute to look after the vulnerable, orphans, the elderly and the very poor. Those are the people who benefit from that. I realise that Kenyans are people that share what they receive and get during their toils. Making sure that Waqf is actually pegged on our laws will streamline a number of regulations. In the beginning, I thought about it. If we bring Waqf into the laws of the country, there will be challenges for those who might be manning some of those regulations. They may not really understand. We have seen the ignorance of the new Chief Justice who claims that women can become part of the clergy. It is unfortunate that they do not understand the most important fundamentals of our societies. It is about looking at the holy books, the orders and the laws that have existed centuries in, centuries out. Will it also fall in the same cracks within the law? We should look at the way it is managed. Maybe it will not be managed through the holy scripts or the right scriptures that began in 670 AD. Will it be counterproductive to the way people have been working throughout in handling this? We inherited the Waqf from our forefathers and have carried it on. I have been a contributor to that. I have a Centre of Excellence for girls. It is an orphanage that has over 120 girls who are supported through the Waqf. They are vulnerable girls who require to be supported and educated. That is how we are contributing in my constituency for these girls. Will these regulations look into a proper way to support the Waqf as has been in the previous centuries? That is one aspect."
}